05 November 2016

Is the Mahindra Floodbusters for real? Are they playing in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) to win games or just to get exposure?

There is a lot of head-scratching moves from the team owned by Columbian Autocar Corporation since it joined the league in 2014. It started by picking Manny Pacquiao, a boxer with limited basketball skills, as the 11th pick overall in the first round of that year's PBA Draft.

During the 2016 Governor's Cup, Mahindra made their best start in their franchise history with 4–0 record. The franchise also made their first ever PBA playoff appearance but they lost to the Meralco Bolts in the quarterfinals.

However, instead of retaining the core of its players and start the next season with a more competitive squad, the management decided for a complete overhaul. They senselessly traded left and right that will baffle any basketball aficionado. What are they up to? How much are they receiving as compensation for giving up their best players?

A good example of a head-scratching move is they gave away Nino Canaleta for practically nothing. Maybe it was their inexperience (or is it?), but Canaleta could have been used as a trade bait. With GlobalPort and Alaska raring to acquire the services of a sweet-shooting forward, it will be easy to ship him out, including his hefty maximum paycheck to the two teams, for a veteran reliever or a future second round pick.

However, they did simply did not sign him because they cannot his paycheck. They drop him in the waivers where GlobalPort pick and sign him. This is not how you start the 2016-2017 season, especially when you can get something in return for your team's high scorer.

A day before letting Canaleta go unsigned, the Floodbuster traded stretch four Aldrech Ramos to Star Hotshots for big guard Alex Mallari. It is sill unknown if Mahindra received any concession in this deal, which is clearly lopsided, but Mahindra could have asked for a big man in return.

Next, Mahindra gave away their most promising talent. What made it worse is that he's a big man, which is a rarity in the league. Bradwyn Guinto may still be rough in the edges but he's a jewel in the rough that would need mentoring to smoothen the curves.

The Floodbusters traded Guinto to the NLEX Road Warriors for for a pair of young guns Jeckster Apinan and Renen Celda.

But the out-of-this-world wheeling and dealing is not yet finish. In yet another puzzling offseason trade, the three-year franchise shipped rising wingman Paolo Taha in a two-for-one trade with reigning PBA Governors Cup champion Barangay Ginebra.

In exchange for Taha, one of the key players in the Floodbuster's rotation last season, Mahindra got seldon used back-up players Franklin Bonifacio and Denice Villamor.

If these are not irrational moves and senseless trades, then the PBA should better look at it more carefully. Or maybe the PBA is unqualified to determine what is a balance deal and what is not.

Can anybody in the PBA's office explain how a team with these players be considered a competitive squad:

Subscribe

PBA Advisory

2017 Commissioner's Cup Format

The tournament allows teams to hire foreign players or imports with a height limit of 6-foot-10.

The top 2 teams will earn twice-to-beat edges over Nos. 7 and 8 while the No. 3 against No. 6 and No. 4 versus No. 5 pairing will be a best-of-three affair in the quarterfinals.

The semifinal stage will have a pair of best-of-five matches and the finals will be a race-to-four affair.

Gilas Pilipinas

Manila will host one of the three tournaments in the 2016 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament. The Philippine national men’s basketball team will try to pull off massive upsets against France, New Zealand, Canada, Turkey and Senegal in the competition slated on July 5 to July 10 at Mall of Asia Arena.

A total of 18 teams will participate in the three-nation event whose champions will book tickets to the 2016 Rio Olympics.